At Midland, Fast Start will now cost money

Tuesday

Oct 2, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 2, 2012 at 1:02 AM

The Midland School District has decided to stop funding a program in which the district has essentially provided full tuition scholarships to students who take Illinois Central College classes during their senior year.

Gary L. Smith

The Midland School District has decided to stop funding a program in which the district has essentially provided full tuition scholarships to students who take Illinois Central College classes during their senior year.

The Fast Start program iteself, which was launched jointly by Midland and ICC five years ago, is not being eliminated, Superintendent Rolf Sivertsen stressed in a letter he recently sent to parents. But the district is withdrawing the financial support that has allowed students to earn their first few college credits at no cost.

"Students will still be able to participate in the program, but at their own cost," wrote Sivertsen, who attributed the decision to delays and reductions in state funding. He has long been an outspoken critic of state funding decisions on education.

"This program is a direct casualty of the state's dysfunctional inability to fund schools," he said in a followup email. "For example, the GSA (General State Aid) has been reduced, the Textbook Loan Program eliminated, Drivers Education reduced, and Corporate Personal Replacement Tax diverted - to name a few. ..."

Unlike more traditional dual-credit courses, Fast Start allows qualifying seniors to enroll in regular ICC courses, providing them not only early credit but an introduction to the different demands and class structures of college work. One student who has benefited is Brianna Bodie of Lacon, who took a full load of ICC courses as a Midland senior and is now in her second year at Bradley University a year earlier than she would have been otherwise, said her mother, Karen Bodie.

"It was very important. I felt it gave her a lot more opportunity to expand her learning," said Karen Bodie, who added that the family would not have been able to afford that step without having the tuition covered by Midland.

"It would not have been possible for us at that time," she said.

An average of about 10 students a year have been participating, and it costs the district $25,000 to $26,000 a year to cover their tuition, Sivertsen said. Beginning with the 2013-14 school year, those funds will be diverted to technology and textbook purchases that have not recently been possible, he added.

"The state has placed our district in a very precarious position that our community must address proactively in order to preserve precious assets," Sivertsen said. "I apologize for the funding elimination, but the state has left us with no other choice."